AN "INTERESTING" THREAD

[McDebbie]

We sailed Grandeur in July of 2004. Our tablemates were an odd assortment of a young girl about 21-22 who this was supposed to be her honeymoon cruise but wedding got called off ( never heard why) so she kept the cruise but brought along 3 older males, one was her uncle & 2 friends. well they didnt talk a whole lot but answered questions if you asked them. On the last night of the cruise only the oldest guy showed up for dinner ( he might of been in his 50's) and as we were giving the waiter our tips ( there was 4 of us) The guy gave all of us ink pens, that when you pushed the top down to write it shocked you!! electric shock pens!! cant figure that one out!!!

 

Bet they were supposed to be the wedding favors. :D

[budaman]

I don't think we're supposed to ask questions like that. That's how rumors get started and young ladies reputations get tarnished.....just glad the show went off the air before cable & satelite TV became so popular...that premise could get really ugly:D

 

Mike

 

www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

[celtic selke]

I don't think we're supposed to ask questions like that. That's how rumors get started and young ladies reputations get tarnished.....just glad the show went off the air before cable & satelite TV became so popular...that premise could get really ugly:D

 

Mike

 

www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

 

Yes, but they are making a Smurf movie. Oh joy! Perhaps it will all be cleared up then.

 

celtic

[Miss Vickie]

On our new years cruise, brilliance, the last night, someone spotted a small boat with abot 8 people waving us down. The ship stopped and their small blown up raft was beginning to fill with water. They were from cuba. The crew gave them food & water & blankets, but made them wait in the boat tied to the ship until the coast guard arrived. It was interesting to me, but told it happens quite often.

]]

 

We've had a couple of interesting cruises:

 

We were on Enchantment several years ago, and on our last day, coming through the FL Straits, the coast guard sent us back to pick up some rafters. I was in our stateroom getting ready for dinner, any my husband and son came rushing back to the room to tell me we had been buzzed by a plane waggling its wings. Just then the deck tilted - you could tell me were making a severe turn- the tilt had to have been enough to slosh a couple of drinks on the pool deck :D we picked up speed, the captain came on and told us the CG had asked us to go back about 7 miles to pick up the rafters. He told us about how long it would take us to get there, and everyone who could - passengers and crew was hanging over the rails, climbing on things, etc., to get a good view. The deck waitstaff renamed the drink of the day "The Rescue Cocktail" and the RCI photographers got all kinds of pictures they were selling at the photo shop for $7.95 each (they'll do everything to make a buck!). The rafters were transferred to the ship, put into the medical facility, their raft was put up forward with the winches, the CG sent out a launch from Key West to disembark them from the Enchantment later that evening. By the time we saw them getting into the zodiac to go to the CG launch, they were wearing RCI seamen's overalls, had been fed, hydrated, etc. The raft was removed from the ship first thing in the morning, as soon as we reached port. Our dining room waiter, who had been on Enchantment for 10 years, had never before seen a rescue.

 

In January 2003 we were on Serenade. On the last day, also a sea day,

we had to have a medical helicopter from Guadeloupe land on the ship to

take a severely ill passenger back to Guadeloupe for treatment. Poor man had to be in desparate shape not to be able to make it till the next morning when we got to San Juan. A little later that evening, during early seating dinner, there was some sort of malfunction during a routine steering test, which cause the ship to speed up and list severely, knocking all the glass off bars all over the ship, emptying store shelves (including the booze store), sliding things off dining room tables and serving areas, and causing the solarium pool to drain - into balconies on the "low" side of the ship, down the front elevator shaft (causing a small fire, quickly extinguished), and a lot of excitment. People were donning their life jackets, worrying that we were about to capsize. We didn't, and we finished our dinner and dessert as people started running from the dining room.:rolleyes:

[kenandlaura06]

Well....on one of ours....one set of our tablemates it turns out likes to get "free cruises" and to their own admission....something "terrible" happens to poor Herb and they gladly take from RCCL free cruises to compensate for the damage done to poor Herb!!!! I was astonished at this.....but probably him and others do this....and RCCL is stuck (and other cruise lines)...with compensating versus putting up with the "sue-ing!""""""......

 

Lou

 

And then it raises the prices for the rest of us!

[CL-JW]

We had three separate "interesting" things occur on our QM2 cruise in May 2004.

 

1. At dinner on the fifth night out, just as we were finishing, the lifeboat alarm sounded. We all sat there counting - seven short, one long. When it began repeating, the dining room staff transformed immediately into emergency staff instructing everyone on what they were supposed to do and to do it NOW. By the time we got to our cabin they came on to announce that it was a false alarm, but we were very impressed by the crew.

 

2. On the second to the last night, at dinner (again) an annoucement was made asking for any blood donors who were O Negative. We didn't hear anything else until the next day. Turns out there was a musician in the band with a bleeding ulcer who they could not stabilize (although over 200 people came to done blood - which was awesome!!). We noticed on the GPS on the TV that we had changed course and were headed directly to Norfolk, VA. So at around noon, a USCG plane and helicopter showed up and they airlifted the patient off of the ship. He did recover. Pics at http://community.webshots.com/album/147449781OFpXDu

 

3. On the last night of this cruise, we were taking the scenic elevator to the Commodore Club for drinks when we began an high speed hard turn to starboard. As we were in the Port elevator, it was quite interesting. The Poseidon Adventure came to mind. Anyway - turns out we were going to investigate a small boat floating quite a bit out to sea. It was a Boston Whaler and both of its engines were in the up position. After they checked it out, we turned and headed back to New York. We did see a couple of whales & some dolphins on that side trip too.

[wolfganghowell]

I'm not sure this qualifies as interesting but it made us laugh and it's an example of making a negative into a positive.

 

Our first RCCL cruise was Rhapsody when it was still based out of Long Beach. Our first cruise was on Celebrity over New Years 99-00 - a hard act to follow considering all the special things they did for the holiday. We also had a suite on that first one and were moving "down" to a junior suite. (Hey - it was our honeymoon, we were entitled to go first class the first time!)

 

Anyway, we started comparing things right away and not favorably. After about a day and a half, we stopped and reminded ourselves that had this been our first cruise, we would be impressed. We have tried to remember that on every cruise.

 

The gross thing we discovered on the first day was that someone on the pool deck had apprently gotten sick and "ralphed" over the boat. It was on the window in a very prominent position. It was not cleaned. We made it a game that every day we would see if the "Ralph" remained. I hate to report that the Ralph made it through the entire cruise. We had to laugh about it because we were so horrified that the crew never cleaned it. We even mentioned it on our evaluation form.

 

That being said - when they moved the ship from California to Texas - it was truly reborn. The vibe onboard just felt different and as anyone who has sailed on rhapsody since she came to Texas knows, she is a lovely ship and a fun week at sea. And no Ralphs to report on.

[Tra4]

I did have a drink called "smurf piss"--i think it was some type of blue shnapps (spelling??) back in the 80's.

[Ken]

Back in the early 80's, shortly after we invaded Grenada to rescue our students there, my wife and I cruised the Western Caribbean on board the NCL Skyward. We were passing Cuba one day (close enough to see the buildings on shore), and we noticed several of the crew as well as many of the passengers looking over the rail at something of interest. I joined them and I see a large Cuban gun boat coming out to meet us with several soldiers on board with weapons at the ready. It rode along side for about 15 minutes, and within an hour or two we were much farther away from the Cuban shore. I thought we were going to be part of an international incident for a minute there. I filmed it with our Super 8 movie camera, and show to our grands occasionally.

[Pick]

Our first cruise was to celebrate our 15th anniversary on Celebrity Meridian ,out of Philly to Bermuda 6/20/94.We met a couple onboard from our area and did excursions in Bermuda .This caused us to miss our scheduled dinner.We were able to join this couple at second seating.While eating I noticed in a mirror that an eldery female passenger was choking but no one was coming to her aid.Everyone around her looked puzzled and had their hands up in the air.I had to fight my way thru the crowd of on lookers and was able to perform the Heimlich manuever on her. This resulted in her ruining my suit for the next formal night.I received a bottle of champagne from the ship for my help.But I was stunned that no cruise personnel or even other passengers knew what to do,if I had been choking I would have been a goner. She also came and thanked me after being examined by the ships doctor, and we posed for photos.

[jebl]

On board the old Nordic Empress in '86, we were cruising off the coast of Haiti. As we were abreast of the island, the Capt. came on the PA system to announce Papa Doc Duvalier had been deposed and a new regime was in place in Haiti. You never saw so many smiling faces among the staff.

 

Too bad that so many of the problems that plauged that nation still exist. But for that day, there were smiles of hope on a lot of faces.

 

It was a pretty touching moment.

[wolfganghowell]

Judy and Pick - those are both awesome stories. thanks for sharing.

[trishalee]

I was afraid to cruise - sure the "boat" would go down, but my DH wanted to go so badly that he decided to give me a cruise for Christmas. As I said, I was terrified when we boarded the Song of America, sure that disaster was lurking ahead. Finally got to sleep the first night (pretty late) and was awakened by the most dreadful, screeching noise. Certain that this was IT, we were going down, I leapt from the bed, grabbed my purse and lifejacket (always kept near me for just this emergency) and flew out into the corridor. I was amazed that there was no one else making for the muster stations. Then I heard my DH's voice from under the covers in our bed saying "Get back in here - that's just the anchor going down!" Well, I looked down at myself and was very grateful there was no one around. You have to picture this 40+ lady in her shorty, baby-doll pj's clutching a purse and life jacket, hair standing on end, etc. To this day he tells this story to crew members aboard RCL ships, and yes, I did get hooked that first crazy time. We've been on 14 more, and sailing on the Jewel next April.:D

[TheWog]

IN port at St. Maarten we were enjoying coffee and breakfast on the verandah while docking. As we are sitting there the Golden Princess comes in a long side and docks next to us. We are admiring the ship and looking at other passengers on that ship. We look across and a woman comes out of her bathroom/shower to see her husband on the verandah with no clothes on. Very startled she runs back in and proceeds to say some words to the husband who just starts to laugh and heads inside.... bet it was something to the effect "why didn't you tell me we were already here".... :D :eek:

[curlyd]

Yes, but they are making a Smurf movie.

 

celtic

 

Starring Blue Man Group!:D

[imsulin]

On one of my umpteenth cruises on the Norway, we were anchored off of St. Maarten, and had returned from a day at (sigh! Love it!) Orient Beach to take the tender back to the ship. During the first days of this cruise, we had noticed two young ladies with "big hair" (I mean REALLY BIG HAIR!). Well, there was quite a commotion at the tender boarding area, and the local police and the NCL security crew were detaining these two sweet young things (with big hair) in handcuffs. One of the local police was digging through the big hair of one of the gals, pulling out little baggies of this & that ILLEGAL substances. Here a bag, there a bag, everywhere a bag-bag...Well, we never saw them on the ship again! A few years later, I saw the movie "Casino", and the scene where Nicky's wife is shaking the diamonds out of her hair reminded me of this!~

[wrp96]

Disembarking in Miami after my 1st Voyager cruise, we were wondering why there were so many emergency vehicles around as we came out of the terminal. We got to the airport and found out about the Norway, which was right next to us. As we ate lunch, we spoke to some of the passengers that came off the Norway, and their tales of having to go to their muster stations with their life jackets, most of them in pajamas, and then eventually being let back to their cabins to grab what they could in the dark, made us really appreciate what a great cruise we had, and understand what a bad cruise is. What was really amazing is that most of the passengers we met talked, not about how it ended, but what a wonderful cruise they had. Wish we could all have that attitude when something doesn't go exactly the way we planned.

[imsulin]

I know....I was scheduled to sail on the Norway on May 25, 2002, the day the boilers exploded. End of my favorite ship! We had arrived in Miami the day before, and ended up renting a car and driving to Key West for several days. Sure loved that ship!

[wrp96]

I know....I was scheduled to sail on the Norway on May 25, 2002, the day the boilers exploded. End of my favorite ship! We had arrived in Miami the day before, and ended up renting a car and driving to Key West for several days. Sure loved that ship!

 

What made the attitude of the Norway passengers all the more amazing, was the complaints coming from other cruise passengers from the other lines (RCI and Carnival) that were complaining about very trivial things in front of these people, like how long it took to get their luggage.

[imsulin]

wrp96...you are SO right! I didn't mean to sound glib, because we were all very concerned about the deaths of the crew members, and also very concerned about the fate of the Norway - the "Blue Lady". We were all pretty much clustered around the Norway boarding area, and were given a written statement about the event that occurred earlier that morning. We were so devastated! I'm glad I got to cruise on the Norway so many times, and I would have been among the first to say they were among my greatest cruises ever! Thanks for your reply!

[PKB]

We were sailing on the Mercury out of San Diego and during the muster drill we were in the front line outside on the deck. As the crew was doing the necessary stuff during the muster, we watched a small motor boat in the water just trolling up and down beside the ship. All of a sudden the boat hits the gas and the passenger in the boat mooned the entire ship.

[Travelgrrl]

Imsulin:

 

That sure sound like a "hair Don't"!

 

But it was certainly a hair raising story! :p

[trishalee]

PKB - the "mooning" thing also happened to us on 2 different cruises! There must be someone living around there who gets big jollies from doing this - but it was pretty funny! I just LOVE this thread! Come on guys, there must be many more funny and interesting stories out there:p

[kenandlaura06]

Back in the early 80's, shortly after we invaded Grenada to rescue our students there, my wife and I cruised the Western Caribbean on board the NCL Skyward. We were passing Cuba one day (close enough to see the buildings on shore), and we noticed several of the crew as well as many of the passengers looking over the rail at something of interest. I joined them and I see a large Cuban gun boat coming out to meet us with several soldiers on board with weapons at the ready. It rode along side for about 15 minutes, and within an hour or two we were much farther away from the Cuban shore. I thought we were going to be part of an international incident for a minute there. I filmed it with our Super 8 movie camera, and show to our grands occasionally.

 

Wow!!!

[Max Circus]

First cruise on MOS. We had been in Barbados one day and many passengers had been on the Jolly Roger booze cruise. Lots of very lubricated people - to say the least. My wife are out on the pool deck shortly after leaving the port and we see a bunch of college-aged kids who must have been on the JR. They weren't feeling any pain. Women on one side of the main pool and men on the other. They took turns having a "mooning competition". Then some of them just took everything off. That was when security finally came and they were all taken away - presumably to their cabin.

 

The whole thing gave us a good laugh.

 

Since it was our first cruise, we weren't too sure if this was a "normal" activity. Didn't see anything like this on NOS. We'll see about JOS.